Petition to Abolish Law Punishing AI Virtual Sexual Content with 7 Years for Production and 3 Years for Viewing

‌The previously posted "Petition to Abolish the Proposed Amendment to the Special Act on the Punishment of Sexual Violence Crimes, which introduces punishment for AI-generated virtual sexual expressions" has surpassed 100 prior consents and has been registered as an official public petition.
Go to Petition https://petitions.assembly.go.kr/proceed/onGoingAll/586136403D5D6C76E064B49691C6967B
Understanding the Issue
What if it becomes a 'sexual violence crime' even without an actual victim?
Justice Forum
The amendment to the Sexual Violence Punishment Act (Bill No. 2212918) currently under review in the National Assembly was proposed under the pretext of supplementing acquittal rulings resulting from the failure to prove deepfake victims. However, it seeks to punish even "purely virtual sexual expressions that could be perceived as real people," which have no real person or specific victim, the same as deepfakes of real people—with up to 7 years in prison for production and up to 3 years in prison for simple possession or viewing...
The petition period is from August 20, 2026, to September 19, 2026, and if it receives 50,000 consents, it will be referred to the relevant committee of the National Assembly.
This petition is not opposing the punishment of sexual deepfake crimes targeting actual people. The act of producing or distributing sexual deepfakes using real people without consent must be strictly punished.
The problem is that the amendment goes further by including AI-generated virtual characters or expressions that have no connection to any specific real person as targets of sexual violence crimes, and seeks to impose criminal penalties not only on production but also on private acts such as possession, purchase, storage, and viewing.
While deepfakes targeting real people involve the infringement of a victim's personality rights and sexual self-determination, purely virtual expressions may not have a direct victim. If so, a sufficient explanation is needed as to whose rights are being protected through criminal punishment.
Furthermore, the standard of "virtual characters that could be perceived as real people" is ambiguous, making it difficult to predict to what extent photorealistic AI images, virtual humans, game/3D characters, or photorealistic illustrations would constitute a crime.
In particular, punishing the production, storage, and viewing by an individual even without distribution carries the risk of excessively restricting the freedom of expression and the freedom of privacy.
While actual deepfake victims should be strongly protected, whether it is appropriate to group purely virtual expressions unrelated to real people under the same sexual violence crime should be discussed separately. If additional legislation is necessary, I believe it is desirable to design it more precisely based on criteria such as relevance to a specific real person, actual harm, intent, and acts of distribution.
If you agree with the purpose of this petition, please sign it and share it with those around you if possible.
Go to Petition https://petitions.assembly.go.kr/proceed/onGoingAll/586136403D5D6C76E064B49691C6967B